Those without Hearts
by Dark Seraphim
Summary: Axel doesn't have a Heart, and yet there is still something there. He is the 'third wheel' cast aside. Axel/Saix/Xemnas


**Requested Element**: Learning

**Warning**: no standardized warnings apply

**Notes**: I have yet to play 358/2 or Birth By Sleep. This is, however, pre-game. I'm sure that I could have done better, but I hope it's still enjoyable. For 3ships on Dreamwidth.

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Axel and Saix were referred to as the "Heavenly Bodies from Hell." Neither one bothered to ask why and neither one cared what titles they were given. Being called a "flurry of dancing flames" also meant little to Axel. Saix didn't even know about his second title, much less care. Xemnas had granted them those "titles", and no one asked why.

The two of them functioned as the "watchers" in the 13th Order. They went from one part of the Castle That Never Was to the other, watching nothing and Nobodies doing nothing that mattered. Sometimes Axel went to the highest skyscraper of the City That Never Was to watch more nothing. He found it odd that little went on in this City, unless he initiated whatever activity came to mind. How could that be? Cities always carried life, death, fun, cars, and lots of food, but this one offered nothing, unless one looked for something else. Axel often found himself looking for anything that entertained him because Saix drifted away from him like the moon that leaves when the sun rises.

The sun never rose in the City that Never Was. It avoided the endless nights and bright, heart-shaped moon. The sun hated the darkness and always tried to eliminate it, but beyond that City, only succeeded for a little while. Axel never liked the dark, either, but the shadows did not care. Saix won again with the power of the moonlight that made him insane with battle fueled glory. Axel learned the hard way not to fight someone made of war. He should have learned it the easy way, but Axel never liked learning the easy way. Such a way reeked of BOREDOM. Axel grimaced at anything boring. To him, boring was a sin-an unforgivable sin. Saix didn't seem to mind boring.

Why should Saix be bored when he spent much of his time around Xemnas, listening to endless words that had no meaning? Axel listened too, but only to stay around the one he had long considered a friend. Nobodies didn't have hearts, right? They weren't supposed to feel, right? They weren't supposed to worry if and when the Master took one of the students to a secret "Room That Never Was." Right?

WRONG! Axel believed this because he burned with a rage worth more than a thousand suns. The last time he looked, anger was an emotion, one full of strength and it never abandoned him like Saix did. Xemnas qualified as Heartless though because he stole Saix, but then again, if he didn't have a Heart, why would he want Saix for himself? Why would he show such obvious favor to the one who became the "second in command" despite being a "Neophyte"? Axel knew that they did things that required a Heart. He knew because he did them with Saix, and they both felt something.

When they went on their quests to kill whoever stood in Xemnas' way, the two of them DID things, things that real lovers did, and not those who didn't have Hearts. Sometimes Axel topped, staying on Saix the way the sun stayed in space, burning with the fury of many of them, offering heat that those without Hearts were never supposed to feel. Sometimes Saix topped with a passion all his own; one that wolves howled when a full moon ruled the night and filled the land with a light that no sun could give.

Axel learned from Xemnas that the sun was not a ball of fire like Axel's powers, but rather a gigantic ball of extremely hot gas. Axel, ever the child, laughed at that notion, and ate a huge can of beans. Axel always looked like the sun with his hair colored like a flaming, bleeding sunset around his face. Saix looked like the moon-beautiful from afar, but ugly up close and personal. Axel never believed that until he found his best friend and worst enemy constantly with Xemnas. He found that their relationship went way beyond master and apprentice. Whatever the case, Axel learned that he was the hypotenuse that would never be welcome.

He wanted more, he always did. Axel was a fire that devoured everything in its path while wanting more. He had Saix to himself for years and he honestly believed that things wouldn't change because even without a "Heart", he still felt something. Otherwise, he would not have cared if Saix didn't want to be "his" and he would have felt nothing but physical pain when Saix spurned him in more ways than one.

Those without Hearts weren't supposed to tense up when thinking of Saix and Xemnas together. They weren't supposed to wonder when the tears would finally fall. They could pretend though. Axel didn't mind pretending because it meant having Saix close to him, and it's not as if Xemnas was such a terrible lay, seeing as he led Organization 13 and all. He looked like the moon too, in a way, only Xemnas' powers involved everything and nothing. He wasn't the stars or the sky, and had nothing to do with the sun or the moon, but he clearly preferred the moon.

Maybe because the moon that ruled the City that Never Was looked like a Heart. That had to be it, Axel believed. Then again, he didn't know what to believe, but he knew that Saix would stay as Xemnas' right hand man with many talents, abilities, and skills that would please the "great leader". Axel never questioned Saix's ability, just like he never questioned why he and his best enemy watched over nothing but a dark city full of buildings filled with Dusks. He did, however, question why he couldn't be more than just a mere student, former friend, and current enemy. He kept those questions to himself, but he never stopped asking.

Axel walked down from his post, a setting sun in a place that knew nothing of such bright splendor. He didn't bother teleporting because he wanted to see Saix, the second moon that served as a reminder that lacking a Heart didn't necessarily mean lacking any feelings.


End file.
